Moonrise
by Felyrah
Summary: A young she-cat, Moon, leaves her family to find out about herself.  She finds two Clans destructing each other. She needs to find the reason for the battles and for the visits of a strange cat in her dreams...
1. Characters

Characters of Moonrise (in the beginning) (credits behind, sorry for some changes)

**FoxClan:**

Leader: 

Foxstar ... Reddish tom with white chest and ginger eyes

Deputy: 

Flightsky ... brown tabby she-cat with white paws and green eyes (Flight of the Wind)

Medicine cat:

Amberlight ... pretty red-ginger she-cat with blue eyes (Flight of the Wind)

Medicine cat apprentice: 

none

Warriors: 

Pinefur ... brown-gray tabby she-cat with blue eyes,

_apprentice: Patchpaw_

Softpelt ... pure white she-cat with blue eyes

Graymist ... gray she-cat with brown paws and tail-tip and grey eyes

Puddlesplash ... black tom with white paws, his left eye is blue, the right eye is green,

_apprentice: Turtlepaw_

Thornear ... gray tabby tom with yellow eyes, his left ear has a gash from a thorn

Heathercloud ... white she-cat with grey belly and yellow eyes

Oneclaw ... brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes, her right hind-paw misses a claw,

_apprentice: Whitepaw_

Dogfang ... brown tom with amber eyes, he has enormeous fangs

Treeleap ... small, black she-cat with blueish-gray eyes,

_apprentice: Mosspaw_

Sunlight ... cream-coloured she-cat with green eyes

Owlfeather ... light brown tom with piercing yellow eyes

Begoniapetal ... beautiful black and white she-cat with bright blue eyes, former kittypet

Flametalon ... reddish brown tom with ginger eyes

Ivyflame ... ginger she-cat with green eyes (Ravenfantasy)

Falconflight ... red and orange tom with white underbelly, muzzle, tail-tip and green eyes (Ravenfantasy),

_apprentice: Blazepaw_

Aquafur ... blue eyed she-cat with long blue-silver fur (Ravenfantasy)

Inktail ... long-haired white she-cat with black tail-tip and brown eyes (Ravenfantasy)

Peacockfeather ... perfect model of a pure-bred Turkish Van with violet eyes with blue,blue/green,and forest green flecks, former kittypet (Ravenfantasy)

Featherbreeze ... small, short-furred calico she-cat with misty blue eyes (Ravenfantasy)

Silksoul ... blue-eyed she-cat with long, white fur (Ravenfantasy)

Mistynight ... small, ash-grey she-cat with black legs, ears, tail-tip and ocean-blue eyes (Robinstar123),

_apprentice: Dreampaw_

Ravensong ... sleek black she-cat with beautiful pale blue eyes (Skysong 3)

Deerflight ... very fast she-cat withpale brown fur with cream colored marks and bright yellow-green eyes (Ravenfantasy)

Spiderwhisker ... dark brown tabby she-cat with green eyes and unusual ly long whiskers (Ravenfantasy)

Apprentices:

Turtlepaw ... white tom with dark brown patches in a circle (like a shell) on his back and bright green eyes (Skysong 3)

Whitepaw ... brown she-cat with white tail and belly and yellow eyes

Mosspaw ... soft-furred gray she-cat with green eyes

Blazepaw ... red-gold she-cat with green eyes flecked with green (Flight of the Wind)

Dreampaw ... light brown she-cat with white hind-paws and hazel eyes (Flight of the Wind)

Patchpaw ... black and white tom with gray eyes (echoflame)

Queens and kits:

Grassblade ... white she-cat with black stripes and dark green eyes (mother to

Streamkit ... long-furred black and white tom-kit with yellow eyes

Longkit ... black tom-kit with amber eyes and unusual long claws)

Waterowl ... Light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes (mother to

Fallenkit ... small dark grey she-kit with darker ears and paws with a 'mask' like a racoons and 'ghost' markings and blind, grey eyes (echoflame))

Elders:

None

**BadgerClan**

Leader:

Badgerstar ... black tom with white stripes and yellow eyes

Deputy:

Barnfire ... hay-coloured tom with kind, large, brown eyes and long legs and fur (Ravenfantasy)

Medicine cat:

Lunarheart ... silvery-grey tom with bits of black and dark blue eyes (Flight of the Wind)

Medicine cat apprentice:

Lilyblossom ... White she-cat with green eyes

Warriors:

Oakleaf ... light brown tabby she-cat with forest-green eyes

Sorrelpelt ... light brown tom, his left fore-paw is white, with dark grey eyes

Leafstorm ... grey she-cat with brown spots and yellow eyes

Stormwind ... grey tom with grey eyes

Riverpebble ... brown tom with white patches and blue eyes

Voletail ... jet-black tom with blue eyes

Seabreeze ... grey she-cat with light green-blue eyes

Darkshadow... dark gray tom with brown eyes

Lightsoul ... Cream-coloured she-cat with yellow eyes

Cloudpetal ... Cream-coloured she-cat with white paws and blue eyes

Ivyclaw ... black tom with white chest, belly and brown eyes

Ravenflight... black tom with white legs, tail and blue eyes

Rubywhisker ... red she-cat with dark red legs, belly and ruby-coloured eyes (Ravenfantasy)

Beargrowl ... dark brown tom with white muzzle and amber eyes (Ravenfantasy)

Nightsong ... jet-black she-cat with bright green eyes (Flight of the Wind)

Lightfawn ... light golden she-cat with faint brown spots and yellow-gold eyes (Flight of the Wind)

Ashbird ... long furred grey she-cat with ash-coloured and green eyes (Ravenfantasy)

Swiftbreeze ... grey specked she-cat with blue eyes (Ravenfantasy)

Robinfeather ... soft-furred she-cat with robin-like markings and kind blue eyes (Ravenfantasy)

Flamestrike ... fluffy ginger tom with black tail-tip and forest-green eyes (Robinstar123)

Lionpelt ... massive sunny golden tom with right front-paw white and one black stripe on his right side, leaf-green eyes (Robinstar123)

Sungem ... black tom with amber eyes (Ravenfantasy)

Mayheart ... yellow she-cat with green eyes and brown and white specks (Ravenfantasy)

Apprentices:

Woodpaw ... light brown tom with hazel eyes

Sunnypaw ... golden she-cat with green eyes

Joypaw ... white she-cat with yellow markings and glowing yellow eyes (Ravenfantasy)

Stormpaw ... small, slim, silvery gray tabby she-cat with white paws, tail-tip and muzzle, black streaks on her back and a few scars on her left front leg, striking blue-green eyes with grey flecks (Robinstar123)

Queens and kits:

Silverpool ... silvery-grey she-cat with amber eyes (mother to

Larkkit ... white she-kit with big, blue eyes

Eaglekit ... fluffy brown tom-kit with amber eyes

Redkit ... black she-kit with red left fore-paw and orange eyes

Birdsong ... white and black she-cat with green eyes

Elders:

Tornpelt ... gray tom with yellow eyes

**Cats outside the Clans**

Twist ... White she-cat with brown patches and brown eyes (mother to

Sun ... cream-coloured she-kit with green eyes

Lime ... brown tom with blue eyes

Moon ... fluffy black she-kit with green eyes)

Leap ... White she-cat with brown chest, belly and amber eyes


	2. Prologue

Prologue

The full moon shone bright that night and made the she-cats fur glow. But she didn't even notice, just concentrated on moving. She wasn't light on her paws like the young cat she should have been, she struggled often and kept going slow. A little thing was dangling from her jaws, making it even harder for her to keep moving. But she wouldn't let go. It took her a long while to make her way through the bracken, but after days of travelling, she reached a clearing. The clearing. Tired, she laid down the fluffy black kit, licking its ears for the very last time.

"Maybe you can go on... When I failed." she whispered, then vanished between the trees and would never be seen again.


	3. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Got you!" Sun screeched while pinning down a butterfly with both paws. Curiously, she took away one paw to have a better look on it.

"Mom, can we eat it?" Lime asked.

"Are you thinking about food AGAIN?" his sister meowed.

"You have nothing in mind but food..."

"Sure!"

Twist ignored her two kits and looked at the third, adopted one. Moon was sitting in a corner of the cave again; her eyes fixed on her paws, and said nothing. Not a word. Not a tiny meow. She liked this kit from the very beginning, and she pitied it.

She had found her in a bright night, full moon, she remembered. Her two kits had just been born, the third one had died instantly, and she was weak. But she had to eat, so she left the kits alone in a cave, this cave, and went out to hunt. She didn't smell any prey, but a strong scent she'd never smelled here before. Curious and cautious she observed it and found the poor tiny kit in the middle of a clearing. It was cold, very cold and didn't move, but she couldn't find the mother. So she licked it to warm it up and to comfort it, and finally she decided to take it with her. Because her third one died, she had enough milk. She had adopted it and now it was her kit, but the others didn't accept the she-kit.

"She's so boring! We don't want to play with her." They said, and they didn't even know about her being adopted. Twist wouldn't tell them. It was hard enough for Moon. She somehow understood the kit. She didn't know what had happened to Moon, maybe even Moon didn't.

"Mommy!" She woke up from her flashback when something pulled at her tail. It was Lime pointing at the butterfly. "Look, it flew away!"

"But I caught it!" Sun meowed, triumphantly.

"No you didn't," her brother said.

"I'm going hunting now." The mother got to her paws, "Behave yourselves and be nice to your sister. "Sure, Mommy," both kits said in a voice that told her that she could trust a fox more than those two...


	4. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It wasn't that Moon didn't like her brother and sister, they didn't like her. Moon knew this was all her fault, she had never tried to get to know them, and she'd never tried to play with them. She just felt she wasn't like them. She somehow didn't belong here. She didn't chase beetles; she didn't play with her food. She never screeched. But she wasn't adult too. Her thoughts, her moves, all this was kit-like. Moon loved the nature. She didn't play with it. She watched it. She watched the grass grow, the river flow and the leaves dance at leaf-fall. She heard the mice and the rabbits better than her mother and she loved the smell of fresh forest air and the taste of clear water. Moon didn't care about her brother and sister; she cared about all the beautiful things around her. But most of all, she loved the stars. They reminded her of something, something far away and long ago. But she didn't know what. She often sat in front of the cage at night, while the others were sleeping, when there was no cloud and she could watch the glittering silver stars.

Time went by.

One night, when the feeling of not being in the right place was very strong, she decided to leave. Find out about stars. Find out about herself. She knew her mother loved her. So she decided to say goodbye. "Mom," she whispered, careful not to wake the others. "I feel like I don't belong here. I want to go and choose my own path. Explore. And learn."

"Dear," Twist said, "I was waiting for you to say that. Follow me!"

Twist lead the way through the forest and stopped at the clearing where she'd found Moon that one night.

"You're not my real kit. I found you here. You were all alone and so tiny-" she stopped. After a while she managed to go on. "After one of my three kits died on its first day, you fitted in perfectly. Sun and Lime don't even know. I decided to let you go whenever you wanted and now the time has come."

"I'll miss you, and you'll always be my mother, Twist." Was all Moon said. There was no more to say.

"I'll miss you, too." Twist replied. Then Moon turned and vanished into the deeper forest. Twist stared after her for a long while before returning to her two other kits.


	5. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Moon didn't know where to go. She had grown up in the forest, but she'd never explored on her own and she had stayed near the cave she had lived with Twist, Lime and Sun. She was excited, yet frightened at the same time. So she just kept going. She saw trees she hadn't seen before, it was easier to climb them, and sometimes she just enjoyed jumping from branch to branch like a squirrel. She tasted a new kind of water, not from a pond, but from a stream and she decided to follow it. She heard new birds singing different songs and she loved it.

But no one was there to protect her from straying dogs and from the night, when she feared the darkness and the cold. But her worst problem was the hunting. She had never tried to hunt before, Twist had done that. Twist had caught enough for her three kits, even if she sometimes stayed hungry. Moon had to figure it out by herself.

Her first tries didn't work, her tail was straight up or made the leaves on the ground rustle, she stepped on a twig or the prey smelled her because she stalked it from the wrong direction.

Even her first mouse was a disaster, it noticed her and ran, but she was fast and caught it. She didn't give it a bite, though; she clawed it, messing it up and spilling the bile. The mouse tasted bad after that, but she was hungry enough to ignore it.

But she improved very fast, and by the time she reached the streams source, she was nearly as good as her mother. When she grew hungry again she smelled rabbit. She dropped into a hunters crouch and crept forward. Then she leaped. A white spot caught her eye and she twisted in the air, letting the rabbit escape. The next moment she was facing a cat, white with a brown chest, snarling. She flinched. The cat was much bigger than her.

"What are you doing here? This is my rabbit!" the furious she-cat snarled.

"I'm s... so sorry. I didn't know." Moon replied.

"Liar!" The older cat growled. "Everyone here knows! Even the Clans respect me!"

"What Clans?" She asked, but the white she-cat didn't reply, she just hissed. Moon hurried to get away. She wasn't sure what to do next. She wanted to know who she was and find out about the stars. She would need help.

So she decided to search for the Clans.


	6. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It wasn't hard for Moon to find the clans. Even if her nose hadn't been special, she would have found them easily. The clans consisted of many cats, she found out. The scents mingled everywhere. But they were strongest on one nearly straight, invisible line. 'The border' she decided. She followed it until the scents changed. What's that? She wondered, another clan?

Then she crossed the border and followed the trails. She reached a clearing. There were multiple dens and holes. She knew that she had found a camp.

"Hello!" she called. "Anyone here?" She heard a cough coming from a den in the earth. Curiously, she went there. "Hello?" she said. Another cough. She looked down into the hole, seeing an old cat with gray, mottled fur. "Who are you?" she wanted to know. "Is this a Clan? Where are the other cats I've scented? Can I help you?"

The gray cat didn't even notice her. The old tom tried to get up but his legs collapsed under his weight.

"Gotta... get...help." he stuttered. Suddenly his eyes were fixed on her. "Get help!" He tried to get up again and managed a few steps, enough for Moon to see deep claw marks on his flank and throat, bleeding. Then he fell down again, his eyes clouding. He stopped breathing. The old cat was dead. Terrified, Moon turned around and fled into the woods.


	7. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Moon didn't stop until she couldn't run anymore. She didn't know how long or how far she'd run, but she hadn't left the forest behind. When she stopped, she realized that she had raced back to the point where the borders met. She feared to see that cruelty again, but she knew she had to find help.

It was easy to find the camp. It was made in a huge clearing, not visible from outside, but she could smell it. Many scents mingled. Fighting back her fears, she stepped out into the open. Like in the last camp, no one was there. Then she heard a tiny meow. It came from a little den at the other and of the clearing. She crossed it and went into the den.

Two cats were there, not fully grown. One was bigger, though. The tom instantly jumped up, turned and hissed at her, ready to spring.

"Who are you?" he hissed, arching his back. He was around her age, black, with a white tail tip and head.

Moon risked a glance at the other cat. It was a kit, tiny, gray with dark ears, paws and markings. Her gray eyes stared into nowhere. She looked back at the tom. His amber eyes shone with fury.

"Calm down." Moon said, trying not to show her own fear. "I'm not doing any harm. I'm Moon. What's your name?"

The tom relaxed a bit. "Patchpaw," he replied. "What are you doing in FoxClan territory?"

"I need help. Where is your leader?"

"In battle with BadgerClan. But he probably won't return. All our warriors are in battle. It's horrible."

Now Moon knew what she had seen in the other camp. "I know." she just said. "Why aren't you in battle?"

"It's not that I didn't want to go," he replied, "but I'm supposed to look after my little sister, Fallenkit. She can't stay back alone. She's blind. Besides, I'm the youngest apprentice..." he sighed. "I want to help them!"

Moon sat down beside him. He backed down a little, but he stayed. They sat there for hours without saying a word, waiting. Then they heard a yowl, near by...


	8. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Moons neckfur rose and she stood up, hissing. Patchpaw stood up, too, but he stayed calm. Another yowl cut the silence. The birds had stopped singing. Even the wind didn't blow anymore. It rustled in the bracken. This time she understood the words of the high-pitched voice:

"My dreams have come true! They're dead! Both leaders died!"

It didn't sound scared or happy or sad. It sounded excited. As if a burden had been removed. Then the cat broke free. It was a pretty ginger she-cat. "Amberlight!" Patchpaw exclaimed, "What happened? What are you saying?" "Both leaders died." The cat replied, this time calmer, "Foxstar is dead." "What? Oh no!" Moon heard the sadness in his voice. "Who is Foxstar?" she asked. "He is- he was the leader of FoxClan." Patchpaw replied. "YOU!" Amberlight suddenly hissed, staring at Moon in dismay. "What?" Patchpaw replied with a frightened glance at the she-cat. But Amberlight didn't reply. She glanced at Moon in a scary, knowing way. Moon couldn't stare back. The intensive blue eyes of the older cat seemed to find a way into Moons mind, to read her memories. Suddenly Amberlight looked away. "Sorry." She said. "You look just like..." she didn't finish her sentence, then she vanished into a den.

The Bracken moved again. A huge group of cats came in. No cat without injuries. Many couldn't walk at all and had to be carried by their Clanmates. Some looked like they didn't breath anymore. Grief stood in all the cats faces. One she-cat rose her voice: "Foxstar, Softpelt, Peacockfeather and Waterowl died." When the last name was spoken, Patchpaw fell down. "Mother!" Fallenkit cried, running to her brothers side. "No! No no no no no!" Amberlight broke the following silence. "Your wounds need to be treated or there'll be much more dead cats before Sundown is here!" She ran over to a tom who was barely breathing. "Thornear!" she called, then turned to the others: "If you are healthy enough to walk, help me!" Then she spoke directly to Moon: "This counts for you, too!"

Some cats turned to Moon, who they hadn't noticed before. Others ignored her. Noone was hostile. The cats were too worn out and another pair of paws was just what they needed. While Amberlight ordered some other cats around, Moon tried to remember what she had lerned from her mother and what she had found out by herself. Then she nuged Patchpaw up. "I understand your grief. But there's time for this later! I'll need your help!" These words seemed to get him back into reality. "OK." He said.

Moon went over to a cream-coloured she-cat, Patchpaw folllowed her. "Treeleap." He whispered. A huge wound was bleeding on her side. "Cobweb." She said, "and Horsetail, in case of an infection. Goldenrod for the wound. Oh, and I need some soaked moss, to clean it. Maybe a poppy seed for the pain." She glanced at Patchpaw. "Go! Get me those herbs!" While he ran of to Amberlights den, she prodded Treeleap gently. "Treeleap!" she whispered. "Wake up!" Treeleaps eyes opened. "Where am I? In StarClan? This pain!" "No, you're not in StarClan." Moon replied. What was StarClan? "You're in FoxClan, as far as I know." "Who are you?" The she-cat asked. Patchpaw came back with the herbs. "We don't have any Horsetail." He meowed. "I am Moon." Moon said. "Listen, those herbs might hurt a little, but you'll feel better when I'm finished." Treeleap managed a nod. "Patchpaw, please make sure she doesn't move. I have to clean the wound." She took the moss and gently removed dirt and dried leaves from the wound. Treeleap yowled. "It hurts!", but Patchpaw held her down. "you're lucky." Moon meowed. "The wound isn't deep. It will heal." She chewed up the Goldenrod and put it onto the wound. Then she fixed it with the Cobweb. Treeleap sighed. She licked up the poppy seed anto drifted into sleep.


End file.
